Welcome everyone to the official Secret Santa thread for 2019! The first year we had 61 participants, last year was 113 participants. This year we ended up with 147 participants, so it looks like we're doing something right and people are enjoying this!

Since the last two years went off without a hitch, I'm not going to change anything. I closed the old thread since the registration time frame has now passed and I opened up this thread to keep things clean and streamlined. We can use this thread to post announcements, questions, updates, ship dates and of course to show off all our ill gotten booty that we receive from our secret santas.

Here's how things are going to go. Today and tomorrow I will assign everyone a number and go down the list and randomly draw a secret santa for every participant. I should have everyone's e-mail address, so I will send an e-mail to each person with the name and information I have for who you are to buy gifts for. If they gave me any gift ideas or a list of the games they own that they don't display to the public, I will include those as well. If you don't receive an e-mail from me by Monday, Nov. 18, please PM me. You then will have about a month to purchase gifts and ship them out to your SS. The cut off date will be Monday, Dec. 16th for shipping so all items have a chance to get there by Christmas Eve. You can and should ship them out much sooner as soon as they are ready to go though. You can wrap the gifts individually if you want and send them in one big box or even have them directly shipped to your SS if you want to save some money that way. Please do not include your name on the return address no matter what method you choose, use the name "Pinside Secret Santa" instead. That way everyone will know when your package arrives and they won't know who it is from. When you do send your gifts, please send me a PM or e-mail with the tracking information so I can add it to my sheet and cross it off the list. When your SS package arrives, please post in this thread too so the sender knows you got it safe and sound. And of course, this is an important one...after you open your SS package, post the money shots of all your goodies here and give a proper thank you shout out to your Secret Santa for doing their part to spread a little holiday cheer. Lots of people are very proud of what they buy for you with their hard earned money, so please take a moment to post pictures after opening and say a quick thank you!

Now, I wish it went without saying, but we need to cover some ground rules just in case...

*First off, this will be as fun as we make it. If we put in some effort, everyone should have a good time. Please check your SS's public game list on Pinside and the ideas they included (if any) and do some creative investigation. Maybe search their old posts, check out any pictures or their Pinside story if they have one.
You are free to buy what you want, you don't have to get anything that your SS may have suggested for gifts, but please just put the same amount of thought into your gifts that you would want someone to put into the gifts for you and things should be fine.

*On that note, no public bitching on Pinside about what you receive, that isn't the point of this. This is supposed to be about giving, spreading some joy and adding a little of that childhood magic back into the holidays again. If you really wanted an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle...but got a football instead...be thankful for what you received, or at least fake it like you would with your in-laws.

*The dollar amount you should aim for when buying gifts is at least $30. That is not a hard cap by any means. Tis the season, so you can spend as much as you feel comfortable with, but please at least hit that number value wise so no one is short changed from a dollar standpoint.

*I will keep track of who shipped packages and when they were shipped. I will send out a reminder to anyone I haven't heard from 1 week before the deadline, but PLEASE, be responsible and buy your gifts and ship them out before the deadline so we don't run into issues with having to track people down and recipients not getting packages in time.

*No dead beat Santas. If you don't think you can fulfill your end of the bargain for whatever reason, please contact me and I can remove your name from the list now with no questions asked. Nothing would be worse for this than someone not following through and leaving someone empty handed. By participating, you are agreeing to be responsible and fulfill your obligation to the recipient. I know unexpected things can happen, so if a Santa runs into any issues, notify me immediately please. The sooner I am made aware, the sooner I can figure a solution to the issue. Once again, if a Santa fails to follow through, and does not contact me ahead of time (to solve the issue), I will have no problem outing them to the Pinside community and we all know how merciless this community can be. This is the only warning you will receive for this, so please let's not have to go there.

Any other questions, feel free to post in this thread or PM me and I would be happy to help. That should just about cover it, so put on those Santa hats and get ready for the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny #%&$@ Kaye and let the games begin!

2019 Secret Santas:

1 2Kaulitz
2 acitti
3 action76
4 Aflacjack
5 alexmogil
6 amkoepfer
7 Arcade
8 Asylum
9 Atari_Daze
10 atrainn
11 balt
12 bbriese
13 BertoDRINK1
14 bicyclenut
15 biglaw
16 blondetall
17 BlueIrocGuy
18 bowz
19 Brypten
20 BubbaBeast
21 Captainhook
22 Charliew65
23 Cheberha
24 Chisox
25 chubtoad13
26 Coindork
27 Coz
28 Crumbalimb
29 Daditude
30 DanieB
31 davidlldennis
32 dc2010
33 Dee-Bow
34 Derick2k
35 dnapac
36 docquest
37 dondon4720
38 drbrain
39 EasternBloc
40 easye9901
41 Ericc123
42 FatPanda
43 Fezmid
44 fiberdude120
45 fnosm
46 fosaisu
47 fxdwg
48 gentrsa
49 Gexchange
50 gliebig
51 grantopia
52 Gritty
53 Heypresto86
54 HighVoltage
55 hogbog
56 homegameroom
57 HotPieceOfSass
58 Insane
59 ismiglif
60 Isochronic_Frost
61 j_m_
62 Jaeg
63 Jawa
64 jedi42
65 jellikit
66 jesperpark
67 Jgel
68 joefox22
69 joelw23
70 jp1985
71 JRBBRJ
72 Jvspin
73 KingPinGames
74 Lame33
75 Leeb18509
76 LesManley
77 Liftserv
78 LoganJK
79 luckycreature
80 Magicchiz
81 mario_1_up
82 Matesamo
83 matiou
84 merccat
85 mickey
86 modfather
87 MrMikeman
88 MrsPin
89 Mudflaps
90 Murphdom
91 MurphyPeoples
92 Muskie82
93 nascarrey
94 NeilMcRae
95 Nevus
96 newovad
97 newtoit
98 Nihonmasa
99 nogoodnames222
100 northvibe
101 notherndude
102 Outlanes
103 pacmanretro
104 Pball
105 Pdxmonkey
106 Pinballlew
107 pinballplusMN
108 pinmaniac
109 Pinmasher
110 Pinsterwmass
111 Pinzap
112 puck
113 pzy
114 RCA1
115 RobertWinter
116 rodcom
117 Sarversystems
118 shovelhed
119 Sijcolo
120 silen7ce
121 SKWilson
122 SkyKing2301
123 Soapman
124 sp005
125 Stosel
126 stpcore
127 TaylorVA
128 the96stang
129 tomdotcom
130 TonyScoots
131 TrixTrix
132 troxel
133 undrdog
134 V_piscopo
135 Waderade812
136 wdpvideo
137 Wharhed
138 Whysnow
139 Wolfmarsh
140 Wondermellon
141 Xerico
142 ZEN
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Working on it this weekend. Everyone should an e-mail by Monday morning.

Quick Update: With this many participants, e-mails are taking longer than I thought, so I'm going to need today to finish getting them out. I'll post back here when they are all out to let everyone know. Thanks.

If you aren't on the list, I will make sure to add you.

We had some late entries so we are up to 147 participants now this year!

E-mails are going out now. It's a manual process so everyone should have their SS info within the next couple of hours, so please keep an eye out for them. I'll post again when the last e-mail is sent.

I did.

All e-mails have been sent out. If I didn't have your e-mail address, you should have a PM from me. If any issues come up, please let me know right away. Post here when you ship and send me an e-mail with the tracking number so I can mark you as shipped on my list and please remember to also post when your SS package arrives so your sender knows that you got it safely. Last day for shipping is Dec. 18th, but you can and should ship well before that date. I think that should be everything, so...
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I thought these were out of production? If you are making them again Bryan, they do make a fantastic gift and that's not me fishing for my SS to get me some. I picked up 5 sets for my 5 pins years ago so I'm already set there. I would highly recommend them to others though.

I've already got the first tracking information PM from a SS this year. Someone is getting their gifts in time for Thanksgiving this year.

You guys are killing it this year! Some super thoughtful gifts. Definitely makes me happy that I put in the effort to for this every time I see posts like these.

This is a good time to remind everyone that we are coming up just a week before the mailing deadline. Please make sure you are in the final preparations of sending out your packages to make sure they arrive on time!

I responded to SarverSystems with his info, so hopefully crisis averted there.

Now is a good time as ever to mention that the shipping deadline is 4 days away, so please get those gifts out soon. If anyone is waiting for gifts and/or doesn't think they can ship by then, please let me know.

ALSO...Anyone want 3 FREE passes to Legoland Discovery Center in Chicago? They have to be used before the end of the year, but they are totally free and I can e-mail them over. I'd like them to get used, so if you can use them or know someone who can, shoot me a PM. THANKS!

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Legoland passes are now spoken for. Thanks!

Okay everyone, if you were waiting till the last minute to ship, then today is the day! Please try to get your items out today to make sure they arrive in time for Christmas. If your gift is not going to make it by Christmas for whatever reason, please pm me and let me know.

A couple other things...

*People have been doing a great job e-mailing me with tracking numbers and letting me know that they shipped their packages, please keep that up.

*Please make sure to post that you got your gifts in this thread when they arrive to let your SS know you got them safely...even if you are waiting to open till later. People are worried about porch pirates so even though tracking may say delivered, they want to know that you got them and not someone else.

Any other questions, issues, concerns...please shoot me an e-mail. We are in the home stretch now...

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One other little tidbit...

Many Pinsiders sent multiple packages to their Secret Santas. Sometimes they mailed one and drop shipped another, so packages may arrive at different times. Please continue to keep an eye out for more potential packages from your SS up through Christmas.

As long as you ship it in time to get to your recipient by Christmas, it's all good. I just set a deadline because if I didn't, people would keep waiting and waiting to ship and gifts would arrive late.

That's the gift that keeps giving the whole year...

I know a lot of people wait till the last minute to mail packages out to force the recipients to wait to open closer to Christmas because they know a lot of us don't have very much willpower.

As for the whole porch pirate thing, in 3 years of doing this we haven't had a single package stolen off of a porch that I know of to this point...so everyone shouldn't worry too much. (LesManley knocks on wood, says a prayer, rubs a lucky rabbits foot and throws salt over shoulder while starting at his 4 leaf clover.) A lot of people are traveling this time of year and of course people are busy so it's not always that easy to confirm that a package arrived, some may not even know if they are out of town. Also, some people don't even get on pinside very often which is shocking to someone like me who checks in almost constantly.

Good point, not a bad idea to follow my own guidelines.

My stuff has arrived, so no worries on this end. I'm waiting like an anxious child until Christmas morning.

Also, a big thank you to ismiglif for the Starbucks e-gift card. Thankfully don't have to worry about porch pirates in my e-mail and it didn't go to the spam folder. Thank you again, that was very nice and an unexpected gesture.

I emailed your person and asked if it was delivered that's the best I can do. I don't know anymore than you do if they don't respond back to me. People don't usually hesitate to be vocal if there's a problem, so no news is probably good news, but I will try following up again.

For anyone worrying about their gift not arriving yet, there's still two full days left for deliveries so no one needs to get in a panic. The next two days will be very busy. With Neil and his international package that is a little different because it's always more difficult with international secret Santas. His is coming from a different part of the world. I'm following up on that one and hopefully it will be there in time but those kind of shipments are just way more unpredictable.

This is exactly why some people wait to ship because they know it's the only why to force people to wait to open packages.

Those shorts are awesome! Never seen anything like that.

Today's the day...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I sincerely hope everyone had a fun time with the Secret Santa Program again this year. Thank you all for putting forth the effort to make this program special, it really is as fun as we all make it! The growth in participation was awesome and I had a great time running it again. Tune in again in about 11 months and we'll give it another go! Just a couple of updates and reminders for this year...

*You don't need to open your gifts by today, you can wait until whenever you want, just please make sure you post pics and give thanks to your SS whenever you do!

*I've talked to a couple people about potentially late gifts due to post office delays and I have passed on that information so all parties should be in the know now. If you haven't yet gotten your gifts and I haven't sent you a message about it, please shoot me a PM so I can look into it for you.

That should be it. Now just sit back, enjoy the Holiday and live vicariously through others as we watch all the pictures of the gifts roll in...
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Here are my SS gifts! I'm so proud of myself for holding out till Christmas, it was especially hard since for awhile the SS gifts were the only things under our tree, so they taunted me every time I walked by. I really look forward to doing this every year, so throughout the year I pick up fun stuff when I see it to use as SS gifts. This year I had so much stuff, I put myself in twice so I could use it all. Because I was in twice, I sent out two packages and got two packages in return, so I want to make sure to thank both Secret Santas!

SS Gift #1

You guys never cease to amaze me with your detective work and dedication to the program. I got this box with packages individually wrapped nicely inside. I opened the small heavy one first and was super surprised to find a shaker motor! Very generous! I have external subs on a couple of my games, but no shaker motor in any of them, so now I should start a poll, which game would it best serve; Ghostbusters, X-Men LE, Iron Maiden or Ripley's Believe It Or Not. I'll have to check and see if it is Spike specific, so that may narrow down my options a bit. In any game I'm sure I will enjoy it...the family upstairs maybe not so much.

Next, I opened the bigger box. I was really surprised. It is a translucent orange Stern apron. I love these colored aprons. I had a blue one for my X-Men Pro, a red one for my Wrestlemania and I have a purple one for my Ghostbusters. I used to buy them from Stern's site, but they stopped selling them. I wanted one for my Iron Maiden and thought orange would look good with the game, but since they were not being sold anymore, I just left it black. My SS read my mind though...or maybe I posted about it somewhere I don't remember...either way, it's awesome! I have the IMDN Premium translite to put in my Pro, so with the art blades, it will have a very yellow / orange Egyptian look and the apron will look like it should have been there from the factory! Pics to follow when installed.

Finally, there was a nice Game Exchange pinball shirt in the box as well. I can never have enough pinball shirts and I will proudly wear it while getting my game on.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

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SS Gift #2

This box was huge and heavy. I had no idea what could be in it. The only ideas I gave this SS was some PinMonk colored inserts for the mode tree in Iron Maiden and Villains tree in X-Men, and those are super small so this box was obviously not that. I opened the outer wrapping and the box inside was nicely wrapped with a card too. The thoughtful card said they saw in my profile that I was working on my gameroom (it's never done, always in a state of flux in seems) so they said that this gift should fit in nicely. I opened the box to a ton of peanuts, after digging through them I still wasn't even sure what it was. When I pulled it out, I couldn't believe it. My SS sent me a Run DMD Clock for my gameroom! Not something I ever imagined getting, but it will definitely be appreciated! I have to figure out how to set it up, but I already have a special spot picked out for it already above my pins. I can't wait to get it hung for everyone to see. Definitely pics coming here too!

A huge thank you to this SS, you really went above and beyond! Thankfully next week will be another short week so I can get my gifts installed and start enjoying them!

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Why do you assume they are reformed?

You guys and gals are all very welcome and I'd like to thank you all for participating, taking the time and effort to make it special and for being so generous. My wife makes fun of me in good nature, but I really do look forward to doing this each year now. I loved this time of year as a child and I still did love it before I started doing this, but the Secret Santa program has brought back a little magic to the holiday that was lost on me as I got older.

Since I just saw this, I wanted to make a quick comment. I know people are very anxious to see their gifts posted and the reactions of their recipient. I am the same way...one of my people still hasn't posted their gift pic yet. It is a super busy time of the year. People are traveling and with family. Lots of people that participated don't log onto Pinside daily, or even every few days like a lot of us crazy people do. With that in mind, please try to be patient. Don't take it personally if your person hasn't posted pics yet. I doubt it's because they hate your gifts. Some people haven't even opened their gifts yet, they are still waiting. It's more likely a time situation. Let's give everyone some time through the new year to get back in a normal schedule and I bet the post you have been waiting for will come. Thanks!

Got the first of my gifts set up. The run-dmd clock has a perfect new home. I love it!

Next up I'm putting in the orange apron with the IMDN LE art blades I picked up. From the initial look I'm excited for the finished product!

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Love the follow up posts for people using and/or displaying their SS gifts!

First up, wanted to say a big thank you to the pinsider who sent my family this gift box, that was very thoughtful. It's nice to have something a little healthier in the house besides cookies and candy this time of year. We will make quick use of this. Thanks again!

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Second, I got my SS gift orange apron installed on my Iron Maiden Pro. I love it. I just need to get some good custom cards for it now. I also took the opportunity to install the LE art blades I bought in the game too. The overall package looks great. I'm putting in the Premium translite to add to the yellow/orange desert look as well. Such a fun game, I just shopped it out so it's fast as hell. The orbit lock is so fast that the game can barely catch the ball with the post and stop it.
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You're welcome John! I can't fix em like you can, so this is another fun way for me to be involved with pinball.

Yours is on the way, it was confirmed this morning, so I would say end of the week at the latest?

Hi everyone, now that we are past the holiday season, I wanted to make a follow up post for the 2019 Secret Santa Program. It pains me to say that after 3 years and hundreds of gifts sent, we have finally had our first person who never sent their gift. Not only that, but it came from a very unexpected source...a Pinside Moderator.

Pinsider Xerico has failed to follow through on this SS obligation. After his person notified me that they didn't receive any gifts after Christmas I reached out to Xerico via PM and e-mail without any response from him. I checked on Pinside and he hadn't been on in a while, so I opened a moderator only thread asking if anyone knew how to get a hold of him. He responded to that thread saying he had been sick, that he was sorry and that he would ship out the gifts that weekend...no problem, I understand, things happen. That was 17 days ago. I've sent follow up messages since then and posted in the moderator only thread again asking for an update...no response to anything and his person still hasn't received anything. At this point I have no choice but to assume nothing is coming and that he won't follow through. This is so out of character, I honestly hope he is okay but he doesn't communicate with me so I just don't know.

Because of this, I am going to ship gifts to Xerico's recipient myself. I'm not going to leave someone without gifts. Better later than never in this case is the best I can do. If anyone would like to send a something to this person too, just let me know and I can pass on their information to you, I'm sure they would appreciate it. Hopefully we can help send a little belated holiday cheer and on the plus side, we will all get at least one more gift picture post to see.

That brings me to the last thing I wanted to mention. This year was great, we set records for participants, some people were amazingly creative with what they did and participants seemed to really enjoy it again...but one issue has popped up more this year than others and that is the posting a picture of the presents and saying thank you. I obviously can't force people to do this, but it was never meant to be an optional step, it is part of what people agree to when saying they want in on the program. I understand people are busy and it may not happen on Christmas Day, but now 3 weeks later, in my opinion there really isn't any excuse for not doing so at some point. I simply have way to many people messaging me, first of all wondering if their person even got their gifts and second being worried that the person hated them because they didn't post a picture. It shouldn't be that way and it's just not manageable for me going forward. Honestly if you don't have time to take a single picture and make a quick thank you post at some point within 3 weeks of Christmas, you really don't have time to participate in the program. That said, there will be a change for this year that anyone who has previously participated but did not post a gift picture and/or thank, then you will not be allowed to participate in SS 2020. I'm sorry and I hate to do it, but I don't know what else to do at this point. It's not fair to everyone who takes the time to do it and who put a lot of thought and effort into their gifts and it's not fair to me try to take a lot of time and effort on the back end to make up for all the people who for whatever reason don't do their part. If this negatively affects participation and next year we only get 50 people then that's the way it has to be, I'd rather have 50 people that are really into it and willing to follow through on their commitments than 150 who may or may not.

Sorry guys and gals, I didn't mean to be a downer with this post. This year was successful beyond any expectations I had going in, but I also need to face reality that when you start getting this level of participation, certain things need to be said, repeated and most importantly enforced. If I don't do it now and next year we had 200 participants it would only get exponentially worse and that isn't fair to anyone. If any one has any other questions or concerns, feel free to post and/or send a message and I would be happy to discuss further. Here's to a hopefully even better Secret Santa 2020 Program. Thanks again
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You're welcome. And just for clarification, this is starting for this year, so anyone that participated in 2019 and hasn't posted a pic/thank you for any reason, they should do so in the near future if they want to participate in SS 2020. I have to draw the line here before participation gets even higher and the problem potentially gets out of control.

You are all very welcome. I definitely know that the vast majority of people really appreciate it, put their heart into it and are thankful for it...and that is more than enough fuel to keep me running it every year. I love being able to give back on that kind of level.

The generosity of this group never ceases to amaze me. I'm very happy to report that several people have stepped up to say they wanted to send something to the person who didn't get a gift this year. He will have multiple packages coming from different places and from what I know will be on the way to him soon, he is going to be *very* pleased with his gifts.

I know there was a customs issue with your gift. I had talked to your Secret Santa before and let you know, but that should have been worked out by now. I'm following up on it.

I was going to say I remember seeing those signs...

There is still one international person who's gift is stuck in customs hell. That's Neil, #94 on Robert's list, so I'm sure he will post when it finally arrives. Hopefully sooner than later. He has a tracking number for it though at least. Then there is one more person who had an additional gift on the way I am following up on. Plus, there is another big gift coming to the pinsider who originally didn't get anything from his Secret Santa. He has since gotten gifts, but he has more on the way and he will be floored when he gets them.

Yeah, by getting nothing originally he got the bonus plan in the long run for sure. I'm so glad everything worked out in the end. Really cool to see people have so much fun with this and rally to help others out.

Looks gReat.

I love the JJP Pirates translite frame. Good to see everyone enjoying this still!

We will definitely be doing it again, I think we could all use some good cheer more than ever this year. I usually start the sign up period right after Halloween and give it a couple of weeks for people to get in. Then get everyone out their Santa info a couple of days later, so people typically have at least a good 3+ weeks to get stuff and get it shipped out. I will post again in this thread when sign up for this year is active and link to the new official sign up thread so hopefully no one misses out that wants in.

Ready set go, registration is now open for 2020 until November 14th!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinside-2020-secret-santa-program-sign-up-through-nov-14th